One captain suits our culture, says PCB chairman

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan said on Wednesday that Misbah-ul-Haq will decide his future as captain even if the team loses badly.

“We have requested Misbah to continue until 2018 and even if the result in Australia is not good the decision will be of Misbah’s,” said Shaharyar Khan, adding that if he leaves then the best option will be to have one captain for all formats as it suits our culture.

“If he decides to leave then we have a few options like we can elevate vice captain Azhar Ali, Younis Khan can be one option but since he is not scoring runs he will be under pressure.”Sarfraz is one option as he has an aggressive style and our culture also suits one captain for all formats.” said Khan.

Khan admitted Azhar Ali had lost confidence after a 4-1 one-day defeat in England.

“Yes, I can share with you that a lot of people lost confidence in Azhar after that series, even Mickey Arthur’s vote was with Sarfaraz but after whitewashing West Indies Azhar has become stronger,” said Khan.

When asked if PCB shows weakness in not replacing an unsuccessful captain, Khan said, “it is a matter of confidence and honouring them and not a matter of weakness by the PCB.”

Khan said appointing captain will be his prerogative. “I will consult the selection committee especially the chief selector but the final decision will be mine.”

Khan will be leaving for Colombo on Thursday to attend an Asian Cricket Council meeting but he doesn’t expect any top BCCI official to attend.

“Since they have a big decision from Lodha Commission in the next few days I don’t expect any top official to come to Colombo,” said Khan, reiterating his stance that it’s still Pakistan’s turn to host India.”

“We have that stance that India has to tour us first. There were slots made for Pakistan-India series in the MoU signed in 2014, and they have wasted one slot by not playing us in 2015, even after agreeing to a neutral venue other than UAE.”

Khan said although the situation is not conducive for an Indo-Pak match but things can change quickly, and if they do then cricket will be one of the most popular things on the agenda.